What is International SEO?

Published on 11 March 2025 - Updated on 12 March 2025

Have you thought about expanding your online business across borders? If so, you’ll need to know about international SEO – the key to unlocking global markets.

A strong international SEO strategy is a must for any global website in today’s interconnected world. It allows sites to reach customers in multiple countries, in multiple languages, and ultimately drive international growth.

Understanding and implementing effective international SEO techniques can improve your website’s visibility, attract more targeted traffic, and increase your global market share.

This comprehensive guide will take you through the process step-by-step.

What is International SEO?

International SEO is a method of search engine optimisation for websites intended to serve customers beyond their local market.

It ensures search engines like Google display content in the correct language for each country’s search results. The practice significantly benefits global websites, whose customers might speak different languages in different countries.

What Are the Key Components of International SEO?

There are a few areas to look at when starting or improving your website’s international SEO.

These include targeting multiple regions (multiregional SEO), reviewing your website’s languages (multilingual SEO) and localisation techniques, and using geo-targeting strategies.

Targeting Multiple Regions

Targeting multiple regions in international SEO means customising your website for different countries.

This involves technical SEO adjustments (like HTML tags and URL structure), strategic keyword research and the use of tailored content, designed to appeal to local preferences on things like currency and sales conditions.

Implementing a multi-regional SEO strategy can enhance your website’s visibility and engagement in a wide range of different markets.

Language and Localisation

Another aspect of international SEO is language and localisation. Adapting your content to specific markets can improve search engine rankings and create a more personalised user experience.

However, localisation goes beyond straightforward translation. You should conduct a semantic analysis to convey phrasing, tone and cultural nuances accurately. Simple translation can lead to errors or unintended meanings, especially with marketing copy.

For example, a catchy English tagline might become awkward or even offensive if directly translated into another language without considering cultural context.

Your localisation efforts should also include adjusting elements like shipping costs, currency, date formats, time zones and product availability, to create the best possible experience for each market.

By combining accurate translation with in-depth semantic analysis and cultural adaptation, you can ensure that your content resonates with local audiences worldwide.

Geo-targeting Strategies

Geo-targeting refers to delivering content to a user based on their geographic location.

As part of international SEO, geo-targeting requires optimising your website to rank higher in search engine results for customers in a specific geographic area.

It involves tailoring URL structures, website content, and using technical SEO code snippets.

What are the Technical Aspects of International SEO?

We’ve covered a brief overview of international SEO. Now, it’s time to examine the technical side, which will help you achieve powerful results.

International Domain Structures

Domain names are your website’s URL and are essential to your international SEO strategy.

Domain structures, which include different endings like .co.uk, .es, or .it, help identify the country or language you want to reach.

ccTLDs

Country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) are types of URL endings for specific countries, like the examples given above. The UK uses .co.uk, France uses .fr, Germany uses .de, etc. The end part of the URL (after the domain name) is called a top-level domain.

For international SEO, you can choose to have a separate website for each country you want to serve. For each country, your domain name would use a unique ccTLD.

In the example of a camping gear website, you might use:

www.campinggear.co.uk for customers in the UK

www.campinggear.ie for customers in Ireland

www.campinggear.pt for customers in Portugal

Each of the above websites would be unique to each country and ideally have localised content, improving Google rankings and making business easier for users in these countries.

However, you’ll need to consider whether this is something you want to do as part of your international SEO plan.

Creating and maintaining multiple websites can become expensive, as can building each website’s domain authority (how trustworthy search engines rate your website).

Subdomains

Another method is to use subdomains. Subdomains are part of your main domain and provide further information at the beginning of your website URL.

For example, let’s say www.campinggear.com is your main domain. These would be the subdomains to accommodate customers in different countries:

For the UK: www.uk.campinggear.com

For France: www.fr.campinggear.com

For Spain: www.es.campinggear.com

The main benefit of subdomains for international SEO is that they are easier and cheaper to manage than multiple websites with their own ccTLD.

On the other hand, there are some downsides to using subdomains, like diluting the website’s domain authority, for example. Search engines may also find it hard to differentiate between the different languages, and customers are more used to finding brands by their ccTLD for their country.

Hreflang Tags

Hreflang tags, otherwise known as hreflang attributes, are snippets of HTML code. Think of them as digital translators. They are used within websites to indicate to Google the language being used on each page. In turn, Google will deliver the correct version of your website with the correct language to the correct audience based on their preferences.

Example of hreflang tags:

Notice how the language is included at the end of each tag. As a result, the user will see the website in the language they prefer, regardless of their geographical location.

For example, a British English speaker in Italy might prefer to view Google search results and websites in British English, rather than Italian.

Hreflang tags therefore preventyour audience from getting frustrated if your website appears in search results, but they need help understanding the language based on their geographical location.

Other benefits include improving search engine rankings, enhancing the user experience, reducing bounce rates and preventing duplication of content.

Three Ways to Use Hreflang Tags

Embed directly into your website’s <head> section of your HTML pages.

See the examples above.

Add to each URL in your XML sitemap.

For example:

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>

<url> <loc>https://www.website.com/en/</loc>

<xhtml:link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”en-gb” href=”https://www.website.com/en/” />

<xhtml:link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”de-de” href=”https://www.website.com/de/” />

<xhtml:link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”fr-fr” href=”https://www.website.com/fr/” />

</url>

</urlset>

Use the HTTP header if using non-HTML files such as PDFs.

For example:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: image/jpeg Content-Language: en-GB

Subdirectories

All internet users are familiar with subdirectories. You’ve seen these as URLs for individual pages of a website, such as www.website.com/blog or www.website.com/shop. You can see that the ending of the URL domain has changed.

International SEO subdirectories (also known as subfolders) refer to a website’s URL changing to accommodate a user’s country or language.

Country examples:

www.website.com/uk for the UK

www.website.com/fr for France

Language examples:

www.website.com/en-gb for British English

www.website.com/es-es for Spanish speakers in Spain

This cost-effective method avoids building separate domain authorities for each ccTLD.

While some consider using subdirectories a weaker method for international SEO, arguing that it’s less intuitive for users who may try to find local versions by changing the URL’s country code, this approach has a decisive advantage.

By hosting all localised content within subdirectories on the same domain, you concentrate user traffic and authority in one place, maximising the positive effects of local traffic for your overall site.

This unified structure can bolster domain authority and streamline website management, ultimately benefiting your international SEO efforts.

Server Location

The physical location of your website’s server also affects your international SEO.

Think of servers as the digital warehouses of the internet. They store and deliver website content to users around the globe. The physical proximity of a website’s server to its users can significantly impact page load times, a crucial factor in user experience and search engine rankings.

A UK-based e-commerce website hosted in Canada will have slower load times for UK users, compared to a website hosted in the UK, for example. And that can negatively impact both user experience and SEO rankings.

The best way to handle your server location for excellent international SEO would be to host your website on servers in each country you want to serve.

You can use content delivery networks (CDNs) if this isn’t possible. A CDN is a network of servers around the world. They find servers closest to your users based on their location. A CDN will also cache (store a copy) your website’s content and send it to users, bypassing the origin server and improving page load speed.

How can you test your page load speed? There are several online tools, but Google PageSpeed Insights is recommended (it’s free).

Conducting Keyword Research for International SEO

Of course, it wouldn’t be an SEO strategy without keyword research! As with any SEO strategy, you must find the appropriate keywords to target for each country and language your website will serve.

Localised Keyword Research

Customers in different countries search differently online, even if they’re looking for the same product.

Do some research first to make sure you are targeting the SEO keywords most likely to be used by your customers to find your product.

Write a list of the countries you intend to target.
Use keyword research tools like Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Moz Keyword Explorer and Ahrefs to identify which keywords you should use for each country.
Think about local search intent. How will customers in each country search for your product?
Check which keywords your competitors are using to target customers in the same countries as you.
Try to localise the keywords for each country. Do they use slang, idioms or a unique way of referring to your products or services?
Consider local dialects and languages. For example, in Spain, six languages are used by large groups in various regions: Castilian, Catalan, Valencian, Galician, Basque and Aranese.
Create localised landing pages to accommodate each unique region, dialect and culture, using relevant keywords.
Don’t forget the power of long-tail keywords in each local area.

Cultural and Linguistic Considerations

As we’ve discussed, each country has not only a different language but also a different way of expressing and communicating things. Sometimes, creating a direct translation from one language to another is impossible.

While you can use online translation tools like Google Translate and Deepl, we recommend that you use a professional translator who is native to the country you are targeting.

A native speaker will be able to use their local knowledge of cultural nuances, idioms, slang and other informal words, as well as common phrases and language that will resonate with the reader in their mother tongue.

Skipping a human translator in favour of using an online tool will most likely lead to mistakes. Google Translate won’t work for all languages either. It doesn’t offer translations to Castilian Spanish, for example, and only Spanish is used in Latin America.

While it’s still Spanish, Latin American and European Spanish have very different expressions, vocabulary, grammar and sentence structure. Using the incorrect versions of languages could offend or confuse your users and damage your brand.

Competitor Analysis

As we’ve mentioned, it’s a good idea to check which keywords the competition uses. Doing so will show you which keywords will be too difficult to compete for, and help you identify potential gaps where you might be able to take advantage.

The tools listed below will help with your SEO competitor analysis. With this research, you’ll be able to make the most of generative AI, such as Google Gemini, Jasper AI, Adobe Firefly and everyone’s favourite, ChatGPT.

Steps for International SEO Competitor Analysis

Write a list of your main competitors (both direct and indirect).

In the example of a camping gear website, direct competitors would be Decathlon, Sprinter and Mountain Warehouse in Europe. Indirect competitors would be Amazon and Zalando.

Check your competitors’ keywords using SEMrush or Ahrefs. Look at the search volume, keyword difficulty and website traffic for each keyword. Identify gaps for opportunities to rank highly.

For example, you might find that while Decathlon ranks well for “sleeping bags,” they rank lower for a more specific term like “foldable aluminium camping table.” So, that’s a potential keyword gap.

Compare the backlink profiles of each competitor. Use SEMrush and Ahrefs to identify the websites they’re getting backlinks from and the domain authority of these. Then, pitch your own guest posts to the same websites.

Let’s say you find out that Sprinter uses a particularly high-ranking camping blog to feature articles. Contact the same blog and pitch content ideas and informative pieces to create your own backlinks from them.

Analyse your competitors’ content. How do they structure their articles? How do they include the keywords while staying informative, educational, inspirational and engaging? How do they include link building, and which of their content pieces are the most popular?

Perhaps Mountain Warehouse has long-form content with a clear content structure, easy-to-read content, excellent content writing, impressive visual elements, embedded videos and step-by-step tutorials that customers love. Take notes and use these ideas to improve your own content.

Investigate your competitors’ local SEO strategies. Look carefully at their international domain structures, such as ccTLDs, subdomains, and subdirectories. See how they have optimised their local Google My Business in each region.

For example, are your camping gear competitors using separate websites with their ccTLD for each country they serve? Or do they use another way to target each geographical region and language?

How to Use Content Strategy for International SEO

Create a content marketing strategy to help you manage your international SEO.

The strategy should detail how you will tackle translation, localisation, multilingual content creation and adapting marketing messaging for each market.

Translation vs. Localisation

Translation means changing the words of text from one language into another, but keeping the message the same.

Meanwhile, localisation also considers the target audience’s local culture and preferences for weights, measurements, dates, times, values and preferences.

It is vital that you adapt website content to the culture of each region you want to target. Humour, design, tone and user behaviour are unique to people in different countries, even across regions within the same nation.

It’s worth considering these aspects with people native to each country you wish to target, to prevent miscommunication and the alienation of your audiences.

A real example is Decathlon, a French brand with outlets across Europe. A Decathlon packable waterproof raincoat was mistakenly translated into English as a “rainout.” Thankfully, the packaging illustrated a raincoat.

Creating Multilingual Content

Multilingual content is invaluable in any good international SEO strategy. The following tips will help you create your own (mistake free!) multilingual content.

Write a list of the languages used by the target audience segments for translation.
Hire professional human translators to accurately adapt your text to the target languages.
Use professional translators who also specialise in localising content to ensure that local culture is considered.
Equip professional translators with local SEO keywords so they can include these in the content (such as meta descriptions) and improve optimisation.
Test the website in different languages. Send the content to multiple professional translators or translation agencies to check and verify it is correct.
Don’t forget to use the hreflang tags, as mentioned at the beginning of this article.

Partner with a multilingual SEO agency to create an international SEO strategy that really works, no matter how many different audiences you intend to target. Contact us to discuss your plans.

Adapting Tone and Messaging

Adapting your tone of voice and messaging can easily be overlooked once the translation is complete. But it’s important to consider local etiquette when writing for marketing purposes.

Do customers expect to read content that’s written in a formal or informal tone? Think about small details, such as how local phone numbers and addresses are displayed on your website for each country. If you’re playing it safe, use simple language and avoid humour or topics such as religion and politics.

Marketing messaging in the US often uses a persuasive and direct approach, for example, sometimes leaning towards a hard sell. This style, frequently seen in American TV adverts, is characterised by its assertive and forceful tone.

In contrast, the UK often favours a more subtle approach. British consumers tend to respond well to humorous, enjoyable and creative storytelling, as seen in many British TV adverts.

Link Building for International SEO

Link building is a fundamental part of SEO, which should also be incorporated into your international SEO strategy.

It involves linking internally (to similar articles on your website) and externally (to and from other credible websites with a high domain authority).

Building Local Backlinks

Backlinks are a key part of external link building. Put simply, this means another website linking to your website. The links show search engines that other websites find your content valuable.

Building backlinks enables you to improve your search engine rankings and show online users that you are a trustworthy website.

How to Build Local Backlinks

Identify authoritative websites in your target countries and regions.
Ask to contribute high-quality guest posts to these websites, ensuring your content aligns with their niche and your target audience’s interests.
Add your website to local directories and business listings to increase your online visibility and improve domain authority.
Collaborate with local businesses and organisations to create cross-promotional opportunities and build mutually beneficial relationships.
Send press releases to local online news outlets, local industry news publications, and other journalistic websites in each target region to promote new services, post about industry trends or similar.

Partnering with Regional Influencers

Partner with regional influencers to boost your brand’s visibility. Collaborate on sponsored content, product reviews, social media campaigns and events to reach a wider audience.

For example, if you have a camping gear website, you could reach out to local YouTubers, Instagrammers and TikTok stars who specialise in travel, backpacking, camping, adventure, the outdoors or fun family trips.

How to Monitor and Use Analytics for International SEO

Any marketing strategy, not just international SEO, should aim to monitor progress and performance to achieve maximum results.

Keeping track of what’s working and what isn’t will help you make informed decisions when tweaking various aspects of your international SEO strategy.

Perhaps the local keywords aren’t generating as much traffic as you’d hoped, or organic traffic to your subdirectories is surprisingly low. Identifying areas of concern is important for reducing mistakes and optimising these aspects to fix problems.

Tracking Regional Performance

Analytics tools should be used to gain insights into organic website traffic, user behaviour and conversion rates. Pay attention to metrics like page views, the most popular pages, time on site, bounce rate, purchases and abandoned baskets.

Although it requires extra time and energy, tracking these analytics allows you toidentify underperforming regions and make adjustments as needed. You might be surprised by what you find. Simple thinks like spelling mistakes or broken links could be impacting your website.

Tools for International SEO Analysis

Use these online tools to see how your website is performing across each local region:

Google Analytics is the best tool you can use, from the most powerful search engine in the world. It allows you to track website traffic, user behaviour and conversion rates. Segment your data by country, language and device (desktops, smartphones, and tablets) to gain valuable insights.
Google Search Console is another winner. Use it to monitor your website’s search performance, identify technical issues and submit sitemaps. You can segment your website per market by creating URL prefix properties. This will allow you to have your website’s global performance as well as data for the different markets.
Ahrefs and SEMrush are handy for detailed insights into your website’s backlink profile, keyword rankings and competitor analysis.

Measuring ROI

Return on investment (ROI) is a financial metric used in business to measure the profitability of an investment.

For your international SEO, you can use ROI to calculate how much profit you’ve gained relative to the amount you’ve invested and to help plan your budget and strategy.

How to Measure the ROI of Your International SEO

Review the percentage change in website traffic.
Establish the number of visitors from different countries.
Calculate if there are improved conversion rates.
Determine the conversion rates for each target market.
Estimate the change in revenue as accurately as possible.
Track the impact of international SEO on your overall revenue.
Assess the impact on brand awareness and reputation in the target markets.

What are the Challenges in International SEO?

Understanding the potential risks and difficulties with running an international SEO strategy will help you make a suitable assessment before you begin.

Managing Multiple Language Sites

Producing website content in multiple languages requires careful planning and execution. The challenge becomes greater if your website has many pages, a substantial product range, or a large number of countries to target.

If you choose to run multiple ccTLDs, it will be a much longer project requiring more people and resources to help you. To prevent hiccups, it’s a good idea to pay careful attention to consistency, accuracy, and local search engine optimisation.

Handling Duplicate Content

Handling duplicate content is another challenge, as search engines often penalise websites with duplicate content, even if the content is on different websites.

One risk of duplicate content is keyword cannibalisation, when multiple pages on your website or ccTLDs compete for the exact keywords. This creates confusion for search engines, diluting your website’s authority and negatively impacting your rankings.

Using hreflang tags is a great way to clearly indicate to search engines which language to display to which user. As long as the coding snippets are correct, the hreflang tags will be a big payoff.

It can’t be emphasised enough that creating unique and valuable content for each language version is crucial to avoid upsetting search engines – and ensuring your sites resonate with every target audience.

Overcoming Cultural Differences

Understanding cultural differences is another big challenge. It depends on having a good understanding of the culture in the regions your buyers are from. And the only way to ensure it’s a success is to use humans and steer well clear of robots.

Professional translators with training and experience in localisation will produce excellent content, and that will pay for itself. There are big risks for error if you rely on robots, especially when you’re dealing with a country completely different to your own.

For example, countries in the East and the West (Japan in comparison to France or China in comparison to the UK) not only have great variations in customs, traditions, beliefs, values, and local holidays but they even have a different alphabet.

Best Practices for International SEO

We’ve talked about some of the different ways that you can improve your international SEO strategy and engage with new audiences. Now, let’s recap with some of the best practices you need to be aware of as you plan that all-important strategy.

Align SEO with Business Goals

Before diving into technical SEO, align your SEO strategy with your overall business objectives.

Clearly define your goals, whether you hope to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or boost sales. This will help you prioritise your efforts and allow you to measure success.

Collaborate with Local Experts

As we have said throughout this article, partnering with local experts can provide valuable insights into cultural nuances, language preferences and local SEO best practices.

Collaborate with local marketing agencies, translators and content creators to create more engaging, culturally relevant content.

Stay Updated on Regional Trends

The internet never stays still. Technology has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last decade alone.

Staying updated on each target market’s latest trends and algorithm updates is essential to ensure your international SEO efforts are well-spent. Monitor industry news, attend webinars and conferences, and follow influential SEO experts to stay in the loop.

Define your markets clearly

Before you get to work on a new international SEO strategy, you need to know exactly who you’re targeting. Be clear about which markets your strategy is intended for from the very beginning, as this will prove vital to its success.

Plan URL structures with international audiences in mind

URL structuring is hugely important in multilingual SEO campaigns, as it directs audiences to the right versions of the site.

For international SEO, you might opt for subfolders, or subdomains, each of which has its own pros and cons. ccTLDs are also highly effective if you’re targeting audiences in different countries. Steer clear of parameterized URLs – they’re not good for users or SEO.

Set out the languages your strategy needs to cover

Once you’ve identified the regions you’re going to target, you’ll need to research the languages your sites will need to work in. Note all languages spoken in your chosen countries, and whether regional differences might affect how your content is perceived in different areas.

Check Your Internal Links

If you’re using internal links (which you should be), you’ll need to make sure that they go to pages in the same language. Directing a French customer to more information listed in English would be a big mistake, and could risk losing their interest entirely.

Make Backlinks Part of Your Strategy

Backlinks are part of all good SEO strategies, but if you’re planning an international strategy you’ll need to think about them a little differently. In international strategies, you’ll want to create backlinks in the languages relevant to the countries your new pages have been set up to target. Doing so is hugely beneficial in terms of SEO.

Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

The physical location of your servers will have a bearing on how fast your site loads, and this can be problematic if you’re targeting audiences in different countries. Get around it by using a CDN, or content delivery network. If you do this, and pair sites with local hosting, your site will load quickly in all of the countries you’re targeting.

Use Keyword Research Unique to Different Countries

The results of keyword research can be markedly different in different countries, so you’ll need to complete it for every country you intend to expand into. Bear in mind that even countries that use the same language will differ in terms of search terms. The use of slang and colloquialisms will also have a bearing over how they discover new products.

H3: Create Country-Specific Versions of Each Page

The best international SEO strategies use country-specific versions of each page, which are then localised with the right currencies, date and time formatting, imagery, time zones and so on. Use dedicated URLs for each page to enable Google to easily find the right pages for your audiences.

Use Hreflang Tags To Direct Customers to the Right Pages

Hreflang tags are a crucial part of any international SEO strategy. The snippets of code indicate which language is used on which pages, so that Google knows where to send customers in different countries. Make sure they’re implemented properly so that customers can always find the pages in their preferred language.

Get More Advice On International SEO

Consider partnering with a reputable SEO agency to improve your international SEO strategy.

An experienced agency can provide expert guidance, tailored assistance, and ongoing support to help you achieve your global marketing goals.

Eskimoz is a leading international SEO agency. You’ll be reassured to know that since 2010, we’ve helped over 2,000 clients across 90 countries.

By Sam Martin-Ross

Now the UK Managing Director at Eskimoz, previously the founder of Digital Uncut, expert in acquisition & performance marketing

Their other articles

See everything